[S1] Across Cultures

Course Description

This course takes you on a voyage of the mind, discovering the ways in which people from different countries think, feel and act. Learn to navigate the differences between what is normal in your home country and normalcy in other countries. Because although each of us is an individual in their own right, the way in which we were brought up in our home countries causes fundamentally different mental patterns.

If you work in an international environment, this course will help you to manage your work and your relationships more effectively.

Three Highlights

1. Feel the power of culture and how it propels people’s actions.
2. Share stories and find out how you and your peers have had to deal with behaviours that may have seemed totally irrational.
3. Enjoy several “Eureka” moments, where things that didn’t seem to make sense suddenly do.

Modules

In this training, we cover:

• What is culture?
• Culture shapes our thoughts, feelings and behaviours
• The meaning of culture for individuals, groups and societies
• Strengths and limitations of our own culture
• The 5-D model of Prof G. Hofstede as a mental framework and analytical tool
• Applying the 5-D model to your work and private life
• Going beyond our own culture
• Personal action plan

Course Objectives

1. Discover where culture originates and how it pilots our thoughts, feelings and actions.
2. Work with the 5-D model, discovered by Professor Geert Hofstede, the most powerful tool to understand cultural differences and their impact.
3. Depending on your needs, process and understand your past experiences in an international (work) environment, or develop culture-proof solutions for current and future challenges.

Who is it for? Who is it NOT for?

This course is for everyone who works or lives in an environment where they interact with people originating from different countries. These can be colleagues, team members, supervisors, clients, suppliers, project partners, etc. – anyone who crosses your path and with whom you need to achieve something.

Many participants who take this course afterwards say that everyone should take it. For the purpose of gaining a deep understanding of people who are fundamentally different from themselves. The essence of managing diversity.

Professional and Organisational Impact

Taking this course will make you more effective in international environments. It helps you avoid misunderstandings and value clashes. Although no one can change cultures, all can learn to modify their behaviours in order to interact better with people who are somewhat or fundamentally different from us.

For organisations, this course opens up a new way of working with diversity in practice. It provides all members of the organisation with a shared vocabulary and a shared understanding of similarities and differences, including the need to develop and maintain an organisational culture where the shared values help to overcome value differences between the members.

What are we going to do in class?

All AMA courses engage participants as active learners. For “Across Cultures”, this means your learning starts from your experiences as a member of your native (sometimes more than one) culture. We will expand from there into a general understanding of what culture is and where it originates. And dive into the 5 dimensions of the culture model as discovered by G. Hofstede. The model serves as the basis for exercises on understanding the differences between the cultures, with which participants have practical experience in their lives. We will also analyse “live” cases of all participants, addressing issues they may have in their working or private lives. Summarising: some theory, a lot of stories from both participants and your guide and much practice.

Reading List

1. Edward T. Hall, "The Silent Language", Anchor Books, 1973.
2. Edward T. Hall, "Beyond Culture", Anchor Books, 1977.
3. Geert Hofstede, "Culture's Consequences", Sage, 2001.
4. Geert Hofstede, "Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind", McGraw-Hill, 1991
5. Geert Hofstede, “Masculinity and Femininity. The taboo dimension of national cultures”, Sage, 1998
6. Erin Meyer, “The Culture Map, Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business”, PublicAffairs, 2016
7. Richard D. Lewis, “When Cultures Collide, Leading Across Cultures”, 4th edition, John Murray Business Academic, 2018

Words from Your Guide

Mike Van der Vijver

This training is particularly dear to my heart. First, because the topic is fascinating and of great human interest. I think it is vitally important to develop an understanding of the fundamentally different ways of thinking and feeling between people from different cultural backgrounds. It is the basis for the ability of human beings to exist side by side, cherish human diversity and collaborate respectfully.

On a personal note, I have "lived" cultural differences for over forty years, both privately and professionally. Telling the stories I have experienced myself or that others have shared with me feels as a vital legacy to pass on to the next generation.